With the nation's highest numbers for Lyme disease, the Hudson Valley is also emerging as a leader in an ominous new tick-borne threat called babesia.

The mid-Hudson Valley – in particular Dutchess, Ulster, Columbia and Greene counties – are at the center of the Lyme disease epidemic according to a Journal report. Check back for more information.
Poughkeepsie Journal

From 2001 to 2008, cases of babesiosis, a malaria-like illness, grew 20-fold, from six to 119, in Dutchess, Ulster and five lower Hudson counties, according to a 2011 article in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dutchess reported half – 62 — of the 2008 cases.

In 2011, Dutchess had 53 cases and the state's highest babesiosis rate, just-released figures from the state Health Department show.

"What we are seeing is an emergence of other (tick-borne) disease, increasing at much more dramatic rates than Lyme disease," said Dr. Michael Caldwell, Dutchess County health commissioner, calling babesiosis "more of a worry" now.

Blood transfusions from infected people accounted for 11 percent of the area's cases, and there is no test to screen for it in the blood supply. Nineteen people were hospitalized, and one, a 94-year-old woman, died.

Studies in Westchester and Suffolk counties have shown that 16 percent to 26 percent of black-legged ticks carry babesia.

"It could be argued if a patient is positive for Lyme, at least a screening for babesiosis is a good idea," said Dr. Richard Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook. Caldwell agreed, but only if the patient also has Lyme symptoms, to avoid treating "false positives."